The upcoming series relaunch Terminator: Genisys has been a divisive issue amongst the franchise’s fans. You’ve got people like me who think the series all ready had a perfect finale with Terminator 2: Judgement Day. You’ve got genre fans that just want more full-on Terminator mayhem. There are the folks excited to see Arnold Schwarzenegger return to his most iconic role. Then there are the people that saw the trailer and wrote Alan Taylor’s film as a sloppy rehash.

As usual, with these kinds of films, there is no solid consensus. But expectations for Terminator: Genisys seem especially mixed. I, for one, had two very different responses the two times I watched the trailer. The first time I was like, “Eh, ok. Looks kind of cool in a ‘Star Trek Reboot’ kind of way, I guess.” But then I watched it again, this time with my mother, who I know is a massive fan of the first two films so she had to see the trailer. Her reaction was so excited, and so “We have to see this when it comes out!” that I suddenly became more interested.

Then this news came out and I’m wondering if it bodes well for the film:

The film’s writers, Laeta Kalogridis and Patrick Lussier, have not only just been signed to a two year first-look deal with Skydance, but they’ll also be consultants on much of the studio’s content. The studio is very confident about their work on Genisys– a film that they’re hoping will hit big and bear lots of fruit.

“Laeta and Patrick are first-class storytellers and world builders,â€ said David Ellison, Skydance CEO. â€œThe work they have done to help us create the new Terminator trilogy is simply phenomenal and is only the beginning of the stories we are going to tell together. I am honored to welcome them into the Skydance family.”

The two writers will consult on all of the studio’s output, and their first-look deal means that Skydance gets first dibs on all of their theatrical and digital output. Ellison points out that this is similar to old school Hollywood, where writers would be signed to a studio and could be called in to help a project at any time.

They all ready had a hand in Mission: Impossible 5, and will likely be asked to keep an eye on Star Trek 3.

An interesting bit of trivia here is that Kalogridis was an executive producer on Avatar, which connects her to the original Terminator mastermind, James Cameron.

Joseph Jammer Medina is an author, podcaster, and editor-in-chief of LRM. A graduate of Chapman University's Dodge College of Film and Television, Jammer's always had a craving for stories. From movies, television, and web content to books, anime, and manga, he's always been something of a story junkie.

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